What to do with keyword specific domains
-
I have a few domain names with the keywords I'm trying to target for my website. My website currently has been in operations for a couple years, and while not hugely authoritative, has built some value.
Now, are these domain names with keywords any use to me? Is there any point to forward them to my site? Do I try to build up a page (or a few of content) and then have a link to my main site?
Any insight would be mucho appreciated!
Thanks!
-
Hi Greg, from my own experience I would follow Robert's advice and build the micro-sites. But only 301 redirect them once they are ranking well independently. To get them to rank you will need to publish some relevant content (not spam) and build up some quality backlinks to each.
I would advise against simply forwarding them, type in traffic will probably be minimal.
-
Hmmm.... Both responses were what I was thinking. It may be useful in certain circumstances, not in others. With the size of my site and the competitiveness of the words, I think I'll continue to simply forward them to my main site and not create micro-sites. I don't have enough content to that.
Thanks for the help Marie and Robert!
-
I think this is a good question Greg and it is likely asked by some of us every day. Given that the keyword specific domain seems to be losing some of its value in SEO, I would say its likely now or never. http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors
From this the best and brightest seem to think the value of exact match domains will diminish and it would stand to reason that it would. But probably not to zero in the next year or two in my opinion.
So, if your site is a large site with many Keywords, my suggestion would be to set up micro sites utilizing the exact match domains and link to your main site (remember that you need a different IP or C Block). Or link from the larger site to the exact match and build its value quicker while potentially being able to gain more ranking real estate.
The other thought for a more narrow site would be to do a 301 redirect to the new domain from the old. We do this often with professional practice clients and over about 90 days we do see their domain authority rise. (Remember that the 301 is url t url and has to be placed in the .htaccess file to be effective).
We did this recently with an attorney where we utilized an exact match phrase around bankruptcy and his location with hyphens and redirected his www.thebillyboblawfirm.com to that. I was surprised that we were able to transfer his original DA and PA so easily and now we are growing both. Obviously, it is harder to tell how much the exact match has to do with that versus the fact that we are engaged and whomever he used previously was not.
My opinion is that it does have significant impact as we are now ranking on terms where we were no before. While I am unwilling to share the site particulars en masse, if you contact me via private mail, I will share the data with a simple promise of confidentiality.
Hope this helps,
-
In my opinion the only way these domains will be useful is for type in traffic. I'd likely 301 them all to my main site.
With that being said, if one of the domain names was a really great single keyword domain then it may be worth considering using one of them as your main domain.
Building satellite sites on these domains will not be of any help. The links would only be of value if there were links pointing to the sites themselves and then they passed on the juice to your site. But if the content on the satellite sites is good enough to attract links then it's best to put it on your main site.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Domain migration nightmare - what is wrong?
Domain migration nightmare - what is wrong? Domain migration nightmare - what is wrong?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | PSOM1010 -
301 Redirect Only Home Page/Root Domain via Domain Registrar Only
Hi All, I am really concerned about doing a 301 redirect. This is my situation: Both Current and New Domain is registered with a local domain registrar (similar to GoDaddy but a local version) Current Domain: Servers are pointing to Wix servers and the website is built and hosted with Wix I would like to do a 301 redirect but would like to do it in the following way with a couple of factors to keep in mind: 99% of my link are only pointed to the home page/root domain only. Not to subdirectories. New Domain: I will register this with wix with a new plan but keep the exact sitemap and composition of current website and launch with new domain. Current Domain: I want to change server pointing to wix to point to local domain registrar servers. Then do a 301 redirect for only the home page/root domain to point to the new domain listed with wix. So 301 is done via local registrar and not via Wix. Another point to mention is it will also change from Http to Https as well as a name change. Your comments on the above will be greatly appreciated and as to whether there is risk in trying to do a 301 redirect as above. Doing it as above it also cheaper if I do the 301 via the wix platform I will need to register a full new premium plan and run it concurrently to the old plan whereas if I do it as mentioned above will only have the additional domain annual fee. Look forward to your comments. Mike
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | MikeBlue10 -
How to get more keyword ideas
I am trying to get more keyword ideas for one of my project. For example the seed keyword is computer virus and the results which i get is keywords related to the phrase computer virus such as virus in computer , virus threats but actually i am trying to get search details on actual threat names or types of viruses and i expect output such as malware, trojan etc.. ( Currently using ad words keyword planner to fetch keyword data ) Is there any way to achieve this ? Even if i use "types of computer viruses" as seed keyword i am not getting the types of viruses people searching for instead i get keywords ideas such as computer viruses, computer threats etc... ? Can somebody suggest a solution ?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | NortonSupportSEO0 -
Too many backlinks from one domain?
I've been in the process of creating a tourism-based website for the state of Kansas. I'm a photographer for the state, and have inked a nice little side income to my day job as a web designer by selling prints from Kansas (along with my travels elsewhere). I'm still in the process of developing it, but it's at least at a point that I need to really start thinking about SEO factor of the amount of backlinks I have from it going back to my main photography website. The Kansas site is at http://www.kansasisbeautiful.com and my photography website is http://www.mickeyshannon.com. This tourism website will serve a number of purposes: To promote the state and show people it's not just a flat, boring place. To help promote my photography. The entire site is powered by my photography. To sell a book I'm planning to publish later this year/early next year of Kansas images. To help increase sales of photography prints of my work. What I'm worried about is the amount of backlinks I have going from the Kansas site to my photography site. Not to mention every image is hosted on my photography domain (no need to upload to two domains when one can serve the same purpose). I'm currently linking back to my site on most pages via a little "Like the Photos? Buy a print" link in the top right corner. In addition, when users get to the website map, all photo listings click back to a page on my photography site that they can purchase prints. And the main navigation also has a link for "Photos" that takes them to my Kansas photo galleries on my photography website as well. The question I have: Is it really bad SEO-wise to have anywhere from 1 to 10+ backlinks on every page from one domain (kansasisbeautiful.com) linking back to mickeyshannon.com? Would I be better served moving all of the content from kansasisbeautiful into a subdirectory on my photography site (mickeyshannon.com/kansas/) and redirecting the entire domain there? I haven't actually launched this website yet, so I'm trying to make the right call before pushing it to the public. Any advice would be appreciated!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | msphoto0 -
International SEO Domain Structure
Hi Guys, I am wondering if anybody can point me to a recent trusted report or study on international domain name structure and SEO considerations. I am looking to read up on the SEO considerations and recommendations for the different domain structures in particular using sub-directories i.e. domain.com/uk, domain.com/fr. Kind regards,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | WeAreContinuum
Cian1 -
Keyword Position in Headings
Hi All, Where is the best place to position the keyword / keyphrase within a heading? i.e. for keyphrase Red Shoes Which of the below would yield better SEO results whilst ensuring readability to us humans. Latest fashions in red shoes.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Mark_Ch
or Red shoes at an affordable price. Thanks Mark0 -
Domain Favoured by Google
Hi there, We have just launched our website in Ireland .ie and was wondering would the .ie website be favoured by Google over a competitor with a .co.uk or .com domain? Kind Regards
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Paul780 -
Targeting combination of keywords
Hi, On our website Vliegtickets.nl we are now targeting one combination of keywords " flights + destination". We are working on a new website and we are rewriting texts for the launch. Our idea is to target again on the combination " flights + destination", but also target other combinations. Our intention is to have a first introduction text targeted on " flights + destination" and have lower parts of texts (descriptions) targeted on the long tail, with use of keywords like flight / fly to / cheap tickets to etc. Our page will be divided like this: 1. introduction text max 150 words (h1 + h2) targeted on " flights + destination"
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | vliegticketsnl
2. box 2 Cityguide snippets / content in context of destination - targeted on city name
3. box 3. Question: target on new generic keywords + combination of destination What is your point of view on box 3? Is it the right way to target a broader range of keywords? Should we use these long tail keywords (fly to / flights / cheap flights...) also in meta title / meta description / strong kwds, etc? Or will it be sufficient if we target on one combination and use those synonyms in a lower density? Or is it best to keep the focus on one main combination and other pages on other keyword combinations? Best regards, Vliegtickets.nl0